Marking pens have become a commonly used writing implement because of their versatility and unique marking characteristics. They are not only used by artists and students, they are commonly used in many businesses whenever a bold or highlighted entry is necessary. Improvements in the ink, writing tips, and manufacture have progressed steadily to produce low cost, high quality writing implements. A principal advantage of marking pens is their ability to employ porous felt tips having a variety of different colored inks.
Nevertheless, conventional marking pens have several inherent deficiencies. One of these deficiencies is the requirement that the pen's inked tip, generally porous felt impregnated with ink, must be kept covered when not in use. Because the inked porous tip of many marking pens has a tendency to dry out when left exposed to the atmosphere, these pens have a separate cap for covering the felt tip when not being used for writing. Quite often, users of the pen have a tendency to remove the cap carelessly and set it aside. When it is time to replace the cap, the user spends several irritating seconds searching for the cap. This is particularly annoying when the user is busy and concentrating on performing his or her duties.
Thus, the ink-impregnated porous tip of conventional marking pens has created a dilemma not encountered by other types of writing implements such as pencils, colored wax, and the like. Heretofore, a convenient method of keeping track of the cap used to cover this felt tip portion of marking pens has not been available.